ATSDR - PHA - Refuse Hideaway, Middleton, Dane County, Wisconsin

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ATSDR > Public Health Assessments & Consultations

PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT

REFUSE HIDEAWAY
MIDDLETON, DANE COUNTY, WISCONSIN

CONCLUSIONS

Refuse Hideaway Landfill currently poses no apparent public health hazard to nearby residents who obtain their drinking water from private wells. People living in three houses or who worked at a nearby seed business were exposed for no more than four years to VOC contaminated groundwater provided by three private wells.
No other nearby private wells are known to have been reached by contaminated groundwater coming from the site. The DNR is monitoring the movement of the contaminant plume for any changes. This should provide adequate warning of potential threats to nearby private wells.
Refuse Hideaway Landfill might pose a future public health hazard to users of nearby private wells if no further action were taken to clean-up the site. Groundwater samples collected from some monitoring wells located on and around the site property reveal high levels of some VOCs. If the effect of existing on-site control measures were negligible and higher levels of groundwater contamination were to migrate away from the site and reach uncontaminated wells, nearby residents would have an increased risk of contacting cancer.
There are no toxicological data available on the effects of simultaneous exposures for 1,2-dichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride.
Refuse Hideaway Landfill is an indeterminate public health hazard to people who worked inside a building at an adjacent sand and gravel business. Those who worked inside a building at the business breathed air that could have been contaminated with VOCs. However there was no data available on possible indoor air contamination, which represents a data gap. Estimates of worker exposure can be created only by making a number of assumptions. If these assumptions are correct, then workers are not expected to have any adverse health effects from breathing indoor air at the calculated levels.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Wisconsin Division of Health offers the following recommendations concerning Refuse Hideaway Landfill:

Private wells in use around the site should be regularly tested for contamination, as planned by the DNR.
All private wells and monitoring wells should be tested for inorganic contaminants, particularly arsenic, as planned by the DNR as part of the Remedial Investigation. Samples collected from private wells with POE filtration systems should be unfiltered water.
Monitoring of the contaminant plume and groundwater quality around the site should continue as planned by the DNR.
The two private homes with Point-Of-Entry water filtration system should monitor and maintain their systems as recommended by the DNR.
Landfill gas extraction from the site should continue to reduce the movement of landfill gas away from the site and toward any nearby buildings.
Restrict access of unauthorized personnel to the site. Currently there are no hazard signs around the perimeter of the site, but there are "no trespassing" signs along the entry road. Fencing is limited to the gas flaring device, the buried leachate tank, and extraction well heads. The access road to the site has a gate that can be locked.

A. Need For Follow-up Health Activities

The ATSDR Health Activities Review Panel and the Wisconsin Division of Health evaluated the data on this site to determine what needs exist for additional research and/or local education about health related concerns. Such activities could include further studies on cases of disease in the vicinity of the site or providing residents with additional information about the health effects of exposures to specific toxic chemicals coming from the site. People living in three households and workers at an agricultural business were probably exposed to low-levels of contaminants from the site, but no adverse health effects are expected from these exposures. However, both the community and local health professionals need continuing information about public health issues related to the site. It was also determined that additional toxicological information is needed to evaluate how mixtures of contaminants might affect the health of people drinking contaminated groundwater.

B. Public Health Action

The following actions either have been or will be performed to meet the needs expressed by the recommendations of this public health assessment. The Wisconsin Division of Health, in cooperation with ATSDR, will:

Continue to consult with the Wisconsin DNR and the U.S. EPA on public health issues that may arise as any action(s) happen at the site;
Provide continuing health education as new information becomes available concerning public health issues related to the site;
Continue to solicit the health concerns of citizens of the Town of Middleton directly or through the Wisconsin DNR, the Dane County Health Department, and through public meetings;
Continue to cooperate with the Wisconsin DNR and Dane County Health Department to address environmental health and public health issues that pertain to the site and the community;
Offer professional education opportunities about the site to practicing health care providers in the Town of Middleton and nearby areas.

PREPARERS OF REPORT

Henry Nehls-Lowe, MPH
Epidemiologist
Environmental Health Section
Bureau of Public Health
Division of Health
Wisconsin Department of Health & Social Services

ATSDR Senior Regional Representative

Louise Fabinski
Regional Operations
Region V
Office of the Assistant Administrator

ATSDR Technical Project Officer

William J. Greim
Division of Health Assessment and Consultation
Remedial Programs Branch

CERTIFICATION

The Refuse Hideaway Public Health Assessment was prepared by the Wisconsin Division of Health under a cooperative agreement with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). It is in accordance with approved methodology and procedures existing at the time the public health assessment was begun.

William Greim
Technical Project Officer
Division of Health Assessment and Consultation (DHAC)
ATSDR

The Division of Health Assessment and Consultation, ATSDR, has reviewed this public health assessment, and concurs with its findings.

Robert C. Williams, P.E., DEE
Director, DHAC, ATSDR

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

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